The German-speaking SAP user group raises concerns over cloud migration, including complexity in licensing, lack of transparency, and rising costs for enterprises.

The licensing issues raised by the SAP-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG) annual conference have put the issue to the forefront, as members have voiced concerns regarding SAP's convoluted policies when cloud migrating.

DSAG chairman Jens Hungershausen stressed that in order to achieve successful transformation, licensing should be transparent, migration paths should be clear and harmonized operating models are required. While organizations are keen to use the SAP cloud, many organizations are still using older versions, such as ECC and S/4HANA On-Premises, which complicates the switch.

The shift got more challenging as SAP stopped its RISE with SAP package and has replaced it with Cloud ERP Private. Analysts point out that this change almost doubled out bundled SKUs while removing some important tools, such as SAP Datasphere.

Responding to the criticism, SAP said it is trying to be more transparent through its RISE with SAP Migration and Modernization program. However, experts believe changes to product names, licensing and product mixes have led to confusion and have slowed adoption.

Making the problem even more difficult, SAP's decision to rebrand RISE and grow into the legacy-named SAP Business Suite in recent years has simply added more uncertainty for an already cost-impaired customer set.

The adoption rate of SAP Cloud is still slower than expected, suggesting that SAP's aggressive approach to cloud adoption is frustrating legacy customers. Analysts caution that SAP first needs to resolve its backlog of $9 billion for supporting legacy systems and provide more transparent, flexible models if it is to continue to gain trust.